Briton sentenced in ’04 coup plot
A court in this West African nation convicted former British officer Simon Mann of being the key player in a 2004 coup plot and sentenced him to 34 years in prison.
During his trial, Mann, 55, acknowledged that he knowingly took part in the attempt to topple the government. His lawyer, however, argued that Mann was a secondary player and not the author of the botched coup.
The prosecution charged that Mann and the other plotters intended to install an exiled opposition leader in exchange for a share of the nation’s oil wealth.
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